For something that takes place all over the world every day, the humble presentation hasn’t evolved much in the past few years. We still prepare a series of slides and then show them in a set order to a largely passive audience. SlideJockey, a new iPhone and iPad app launching out of the Netherlands today aims to change that.

It works like this: you have all your slides laid out on your iPad’s screen. You can then “flick” slides onto the projector screen using your finger in whatever order you choose. Want to emphasise a point or add extra detail on the fly? Just draw onto the iPad screen with your finger to annotate the current slide and “flick” the amended version up.

It’s interactive too. An accompanying iPhone app allows audience members to save any slides they like for future reference, if you or ask questions, sending them direct to the presenter. Presentations are pushed out from the iPad either via a display adapter or wirelessly to a Mac where an OSX app can display your slides.

The iPad app comes with a demo presentation and you can import your own by uploading Microsoft Powerpoint and Apple Keynote files to your account on the SlideJockey website.

There’s no doubt that SlideJockey injects extra fun, spontaneity and interactivity into presentations. The combination of iPad app, iPhone app and Mac client works incredibly smoothly. The service could definitely do with a bit more of an ‘out of the box’ guide to how to get it all working. Although it comes with a presentation that shows you the basics, it still took me a little trial and error to, for example, work out how to upload presentations.

Normally costing $4.99 or €5.99, Slidejockey is free for the first hour that it’s available, so if you’re lucky enough to be reading this in time – head over to the app store and get downloading to grab an absolute bargain (UPDATE: The free period has now passed and it’s now a paid app, but still well worth the price). The iPad app is here and the iPhone client here.